Williams, the second-leading rusher in the district, was hurt on the Sandcrabs' second possession. He picked up 41 yards on his only run, but Warriors linebacker Chaz Johnson ran into him near the Sandcrabs sideline.

"Cory said he tweaked his kneecap a little," Whitaker said. "We put a brace on him. Our trainer told me at halftime that if we needed him in the second half, he could go. But I decided to get him checked out. He's got such a bright future, you don't want to take a chance."

Boerm carried the ball 38 times, yet still was hard to bring down in the fourth quarter.

"I really put a load on Hunter," Whitaker said. "We didn't run as much option after Cory went out. We ran a lot more quarterback stuff. When you do that, the quarterback is going to take a beating. He took a beating, but he was delivering some blows, too."

Boerm had plenty of help. Brandon Smithwick, Trey Robinson, Devian Cantu and Gabriel Casarez combined for 177 rushing yards as Port Lavaca topped its season rushing average by 39 yards.

"We knew coming in that these guys have so much speed," Whitaker said. "Speed out in space scares the heck out of us. At first we didn't adjust very well. We were trying to overtackle and not making good solid tackles. I thought we did a better job in the second half."

Port Lavaca, ranked 10th in The Associated Press Texas Sports Editors high school football poll, has won 21 straight regular-season games. They host Beeville next week while the Warriors travel to Calallen.